A common question we get asked all the time by our female clients. Let’s put your mind at ease & answer this question in more detail…
99 percent of women come to us wanting to lose weight and ‘tone up’.
You say you want a ‘toned’ bum, toned arms, toned stomach… . What is TONE? .
“Resting muscle tone varies along a bell shaped curve. Low tone is experienced as “floppy, mushy, dead weight” and high tone is experienced as “light, tight, and strong”
Now to be toned that means you require a level of muscle. Muscle is what gives you that toned look, muscle is what tightens & decreases the size of your legs, lifts your bum – gives your arms some nice shape….you can’t tone body fat!!
What it takes to build muscle
To get lean and toned you must be stimulating a level of muscle growth. You must be actively trying to add some lean muscle tissue to areas you wish to develop. Muscle is what gives your shape & tone. Muscle will enhance your body’s ability to burn body fat. Muscle will allow you to train harder & more intensely .
This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t be doing any cardio – teaming some high intensity interval training alongside some intensive upper and lower body sessions will get the ball rolling to a leaner you. If you are completely new to weight training and fear the sweaty ‘men’s’ area in the gym then stick to the machines. We believe that you can get greater intensity from machine compared to free weights and are at less risk of injury.
Working in a rep range between 6-12 reps, with heavier loads will give you optimal levels of tension & metabolic stress in the muscles to ensure glycogen depletion, meaning stoked metabolism & enhanced fat burning potential.
Keep rest periods short – 60 seconds max, work in rep ranges of 6-8, 10-12 & maybe finish your session with some higher rep ranges as a burn out.
Final thought
Finally ensure you are not in a calorie surplus and get those steps in if you are worried about putting on muscle. The rate of muscle growth is regulated by hormones (ones that women don’t have much of anyway), calories consumed and volume of weight training.
If you wish to find out more about how to weight train correctly why not give 1-2-1 personal training a try or our REFORM Group Training.
